Minnesota swim coach accused of grooming pupil’s sister by way of textual content

A Minnesota swim coach is accused of “grooming type behavior” towards a pupil’s sister, together with sending specific textual content messages and a nude picture to the 15-year-old woman, in keeping with prices filed Friday.

Blake Le Saint, 36, began texting the woman commonly a few yr in the past, a legal criticism states, and her dad and mom contacted authorities in April.

Charges state Le Saint at one time despatched the woman a photograph to indicate his little one taking part in with a toy, however within the image, his totally bare reflection might be seen in a mirror. He then apologized and requested the woman to delete it, in keeping with the fees. Le Saint additionally allegedly texted the woman about masturbation and pornography, blaming autocorrect and saying he meant to ship the texts to different folks.

The legal criticism states Le Saint despatched 1000’s of messages between August 2025 and April 2026.

“It appeared [Le Saint] was routinely the one sending messages, initiating contact each day in the morning, saying good night at the end of the day, telling [the girl] he loves her, offering [her] goods or services, attempting to get [her] to come be with him, mentioning or offering physical contact (often cuddling), and generally appeared to be grooming type behavior,” the criticism states.

Le Saint additionally launched the woman to “his cousin Taylor,” who despatched equally lewd messages and turned out to be Le Saint utilizing a burner cellphone, in keeping with the fees.

The woman’s sister had been taking swimming classes by way of Le Saint’s firm since 2021, and the woman herself had babysat for Le Saint prior to now.

Le Saint faces two felony counts of distributing by way of digital communication materials that relates or describes sexual conduct to a baby. WCCO has reached out to his legal professional for remark.

Le Saint, proprietor of Mr. Blake’s Swim Academy, was named Minnesota’s Aquatics Instructor of the Year in 2023. 

If you understand of a kid who could have been a sufferer of exploitation, name the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or go to the website.